It is known to provide dough proofers in the form of cabinets having chambers for holding dough products. For example, FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate one embodiment of a known prior art dough proofer 200 having a chamber 202 with a door to provide access and permitting a rack of dough products to be rolled into and out of the chamber 202. A rectangular heating unit 203 includes an internal heating plate 204 and associated source of water behind a wall or panel 206 of the unit 203. Toward the top of the panel 206 one or more axial fans 208 are provided in association with openings 210 of the panel 206. The fans 208 are operated to cause humid air to flow in the general manner shown, downward across the heating plate 204, past an opening or openings 212 defined by the bottom part of the panel 206, upward through the chamber 202, and then back through the panel 206 toward the top thereof to again pass move down and pass over the heating plate 204.
It would be advantageous to provide a dough proofer with an improved air flow arrangement in order to provide a more uniform air flow over the dough products during proofing, resulting in more uniform proofing.